"...Dinner was then served for the 15 heads of state. The president was treated to the finest Italian wine, delicious French food, all rounded off with a traditional English speciality -Bird's Angel Delight. The Europeans agreed it was wonderful to see such a brilliant American president who combined political integrity with determination and compassion. Then they stopped talking about West Wing and concentrated on more urgent matters.
They tried to raise the issue of the environment but George didn't seem to get it. Even when he'd been asked to choose his trout from the fish tank, he'd failed to notice anything unusual when all the fish were dead and floating in a little oil slick. They raised the missile defence shield project and claimed that he wasn't listening to their concerns, but he just nodded and said: "Yup, and this sauce is delicious too."
Bush talks about rogue states, but on Kyoto and missile defence, it is America that is behaving like a rogue state. He is stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and the UN have not been allowed to inspect any of them. Of course the European leaders would have liked to announce sanctions such as an official boycott of McDonald's; it's just that their kids keep nagging them for the free plastic toys. It leaves you wondering what is the point of having a closer European Union if we are not prepared to use our combined strength to stand up to the world's only superpower when it is in the wrong.
Would America proceed with missile defence in the face of unified opposition from Europe? Would Bush have torn up the Kyoto treaty if it meant enduring the wrath of the world's largest trading bloc? Er, yes he would, but that's not the point. Bush may not care what we think, but if our leaders were a little more direct and frank in their opposition at least we might salvage a little pride and dignity from the situation.
This applies to the British government more than any other. Britain can't be a bridge between Europe and the US and be at the heart of Europe as well. Tony Blair rang George Bush after the inauguration to check the special relationship would be unchanged. The answerphone went beep before he'd finished leaving the message and Bush never rang back, so yup; it's pretty much as before. We are fooling ourselves if we think we have any real influence in Washington, but we should lead opposition to star wars and Bush's environmental policies for the simple reason that they are wrong.
Europe needs to show some leadership because the official leader of the western world is leading us in the wrong direction. He's fallen for the American military's arguments and restarted the arms race. Bush says he was only persuaded to proceed with the star wars project after a full intelligence assessment. Well quite; they did one and found he doesn't have any.
guardian.co.uk |
